Enchantments

“Hanfell, please give me some shoes.”

“You don’t sound too sincere!”

“Hanfell…please give me…some shoes…”

“Hmph, I suppose I have no choice then. Come in.”

This little shit. Who does he think he is… Hitting people with hammers out of nowhere and then acting like this. If this was a lawless land, I’d separate his damned face from his body right about now.

The interior of the store was packed tightly with rows of shoes. If this guy made all of these, well, that was kind of impressive?

Each pair had a tag hanging from them. Let me see…

“‘Slight STR boost.’ So they are enchanted?”

“Yes. Did it myself.”

Huh…that was impressive. They say that you could make a living off of being an enchanter. If you could make shoes on top of that, you would be a great craftsman. Though this one had the worst personality.

“I’d want shoes that raise my AGI…”

“Eh?”

“I’d like to…”

“Then look at those shelves. Just grab a pair and bring em here.”

I sigh at his attitude and walk to the shelf that he had pointed at. There were low cut and high cut shoes and even boots. I was currently wearing cheap low cut shoes. Hmm, maybe I’ll go for the high cut ones this time.

“These ones look quite nice?”

Daniela said next to me, as she picked up a pair of boots. The enchantment tag read, ‘Slight AGI boost’…

“Well, they’re kinda like the shoes I’m wearing now, no? I was thinking about some high cut ones this time.”

“I see…hmm…”

We continued to search together. There were so many designs, that it was difficult to choose. I didn’t even know much about shoes, but my eyes kept moving from one pair to another. Even the colors were varied. Colors…that could be important too. I was Silvergreen, so I should have colors that matched that. But the more classic brown colors weren’t bad either. Or I could go for black to match my hair color.

“What about these?”

“Ah, yes.”

Black high cut boots. The enchantment was ‘AGI boost.’ Not ‘Slight boost.’ The price tripled because of that, but it wasn’t outside of my reach. I still had some money left from that time we prevented a stampede.

“Hey, you little shi-…Hanfell. Is it difficult to cast AGI boost enchantments?”

“Were you just about to call me a little shit? Ah, well. That enchantment was the work of my older sister. I can only do slight boosts.”

“Hmm…”

Well, not too impressive now, huh? Okay, being able to do any enchantments at all was still great… I think I will buy these boots, though. And so I took them from Daniela and brought them to Hanfell.

“I’ll take these.”

“Ahh… But can you really afford these?”

Hmm. I’m rich, you know? I take out my money from the hollow bag and lay it on the counter.

“Oh, so you do have some money on you then.”

I give him my best smug expression.

“Don’t look so pleased with yourself!”

“Gggg…”

Alright, whatever!

“Hmph. These shoes are now yours. This pair was made from accel panther leather. They are famous for their speed. And while they are very durable, you should take good care of them.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks.”

He was an annoying little shit until the end. However, these shoes were comfortable. I didn’t want to admit it, but he knew what he was doing. But then again, his face would appear in my head every time I walked. And maybe that was even worse than being cursed.

As it was midday, we made a short return to the Leaves in Sunlight inn in order to enjoy some forest food before moving on to the weapon shop. We could have just went directly to the weapon shop, but I didn’t feel like eating anywhere else after having tasted that food. Except for that one place with the handsome chef. Not that this was in any way, an informed opinion.

Because really, it was more that this town was so difficult to navigate. Even the weapons store we were headed in was at the edge of the town. It was located on the exact opposite side as the shoe store, and the Leaves in Sunlight inn just happened to be on the way.

New shoes often gave you blisters, but I wasn’t having such problems so far. He couldn’t have hated me enough for the shoes to hold a grudge. And the AGI boost…

“Hey, Daniela.”

“What?”

“Do you remember that double AGI shirt from Spiris?”

“Ahh, the one used to advertise the store.”

You could say that.

“Yeah, that one. Do you think it really gave you double AGI?”

“…What do you mean?”

It was something that I had been thinking about for a while.

“My stats have gone up since then. I think probably double of what I had during that time.”

“Yes, that is right.”

It is. I believe I was over 300 at that point. I am over 600 now. I had only checked after leaving Spiris, so it wasn’t exact, but it should be close to double.

During that demonstration, I had moved so fast that it had looked as if I had disappeared. That was with just a little magic flowing into my clothes. I could practically disappear now if I used ‘Legs of the Forest Wolf’ to its fullest. But it was hard to believe the same thing could be achieved with one shirt. AGI type boosts affected your physical abilities. It didn’t affect skills.

“Was it really double? Was it even an enchantment that affected AGI in the first place?”

“So you believe that it was a different enchantment, but it was cleverly disguised?”

“Well, I do now. That speed was very similar to the speed of Legs of the Forest Wolf.”

As I’ve said, I know what it’s like to use Legs of the Forest Wolf to the fullest. It was when I was running through the plains. I was fast enough that the wind was able to shred the grass.

But I still disappeared. It used up a lot of magic too. It was a lot more magic then what I had used with the shirt.

“‘Legs of the Forest Wolf.’ What even is it? Is it really just a unique skill?”

“Would it not be an enchantment? Seeing as it is magic that was granted by a monster. By Beowulf.”

“So, this is some kind of status abnormality.”

“I do not know. It has no precedent as far as I know.”

“Yeah. There isn’t. Do you think that maybe some monsters have cast enchantments on clothes then?”

This was what I was thinking. Some abnormally evolved being, like Beowulf, had enchanted some clothes with a skill and put it on the market. He had said that it was achieved by multiple AGI boosts, but that didn’t seem likely. Nick had also said that he worked with an enchanter…but was that enchanter really human?

“The mystery deepens, eh?”

“While I’ve gotten used to it, that was the speed I could achieve by using Beowulf’s skill to the fullest. There is something fishy about being able to match that with just a little magic. This enchanter that Nick talked about must be amazing.”

“A human or monster with power that exceeds Beowulf. That’s a bear you may want to be wary of accidentally poking.”

I agree. I would figure this out the next time we returned to Spiris, or if I ever happen to hear any rumors about this enchanter.

Now, we’ve arrived at our destination. The Kasil Arms Shop. This town’s weapon store. As I opened the door, I prayed that this one wouldn’t be run by an annoying little shit.